If an executive order Trump signed in January had been in effect at the time, Melania would've been considered a priority for deportation for immigration officers, Slate reports.

On January 25, Trump signed an executive order calling for the deportation of a number of individuals, including those who've "engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter or application before a governmental agency."

Hasan Shafiqullah, supervising attorney in the immigration law unit at the Legal Aid Society, stated,

If the current executive order on interior enforcement and the related Homeland Security memoranda on interior enforcement had been in effect at that time, then she would have certainly been an enforcement priority.

Cheryl David, an immigration specialist in New York City, added,

[Melania] definitely violated her status, and if it came to immigration's attention, yeah, they certainly could put her into removal proceedings.

According to Slate, Melania would've even been subject to deportation under the law in 1996 if she'd been caught working illegally.

President Trump has made immigration a centerpiece of his political philosophy.